'Bullying' BA could face summer of disruption

British Airways will today be warned that it could face a "needless summer of disruption" because of the "hard man" stance of its chief executive over the bitter cabin crew dispute.

Tony Woodley, joint leader of Unite, will tell the union's annual conference in Manchester that a new ballot for continued strike action may be only a week or so away.

He will issue the warning as cabin crew take the second day of a five-day walkout, with further industrial action planned for next week.

The cabin crew launched their 14th day of action today in a dispute which Unite said had now cost BA £91m (€107.2m), with each day of action adding £7m (€8.25m).

Mr Woodley will say in his opening address to the conference that the need for the crew to seek a new mandate for industrial action lay firmly with BA chief executive Willie Walsh and his "persistent refusal" to permit a peaceful settlement.

"With a deal on cabin crew costs already agreed between both parties, the airline could be restored to full operation in time for the peak summer season - but only if BA drops its vicious determination to punish crew for striking by removing their travel assistance," Mr Woodley will say.

He will tell delegates that the dispute can be summed up in one word - bullying, continuing: "Bullying that imposes radical changes on our members without agreement, that has seen other BA employees incited against cabin crew with, to their lasting shame, the collusion of scab pilots, that has meant more than fifty crew are suspended or sacked for the crime of sending a text or posting a remark on Facebook, that forbids them from talking about their own dispute in public and that victimises trade unionists by branding them second-class employees for life.

"Well there is only one thing to do with bullies - that is stand up to them until they learn some manners." BA said it had operated more services than planned yesterday, including the reintroduction of all of its services from Heathrow to New York's JFK airport, adding that it would continue to add to its schedule where possible.

"Our global operations went very well throughout the first week of Unite's strike action and got off to another good start today at the beginning of the second series of strikes.

"We have announced a larger schedule at Heathrow for this round of strikes, because of the numbers of crew reporting for work.

"We will continue to operate 100% of our schedule at Gatwick and London City airports. At Heathrow, we will operate more than 70% of long-haul flights (up from more than 60% last week) and more than 55% of short-haul flights (up from more than 50% this week)," the airline said in a statement.

Derek Simpson, joint leader of Unite, repeated that the dispute could be resolved if BA fully restored travel concessions taken away from crew who have taken industrial action.

"Rather than trying to resolve this dispute, in which the only obstacle is a no cost item, as I say, he (Mr Walsh) wants the thing to crumble, he seems to want it to go on, we seem to be getting the blame for it, he is the cause of it, and yes, it is a tragic situation, because humiliating the workforce, having people come back on different travel concessions to people who have not been on strike, or those that may have gone back, if that is the case, then that is not going to lead to a harmonious workforce," he told BBC Breakfast.

"More to the point, people will feel upset and angry and that is not the conditions for a stable industrial relations situation going forward."